Australia 1960-1978: The start of the Ford-Holden rivalry

Ford launched the Falcon in November 1960 and proposed an Australian-built alternative to the Holden vehicles sold in the country since 1948. The Falcon nameplate will end up being by far Ford’s most popular in Australia.

Unfortunately for Ford, the first generations of Falcon had reliability issues, and as a result, Holden models kept the lead in the Australian market with over 10,000 units produced/month throughout most of the 1960’s and 1970’s, the Holden Kingswood nameplate being the most popular. The Falcon numbers accelerated throughout the period though and made the model a real threat to Holden’s best sellers by the end of the 1970’s.

More pictures, Ford Falcon and Holden Series Production Figures: click on ‘Read more’ below.